i recently got my second covid-19 shot, and took the time when i was super achey, a bit loopy, mildly feverish, and couldn't focus doing work, to fulfill a "three pedal challenge" to my instagram followers.

i'll admit it - i kind of cheated. i used my new browne protein on the hit/reverse track that you only really hear at the end. but i only added this track after being content with the end product. i wanted to add the sense of impending doom at the behest of mortality that comes with feeling sickly into the already weird, plunky musical idea.

i also took this opportunity to break out a guitar i haven't played in some time - my 90's fender telecaster plus. my dad bought me this guitar when i was a teen (when i was into literally any guitar except a telecaster). it was his favorite guitar, so there's definitely some sentimental attachment. but, i have a love/hate relationship with it. it plays great, but i prefer a flatter fretboard radius. it's noiseless due to lace sensor pickups (which is great for my studio), but it just doesn't have the spank i really want out of a telecaster. it has a scratchy output jack too. maybe i'll give it some upgrades when i have a less noisy home studio.

signal:
fender telecaster plus
electro-harmonix hum debugger (not counting this - tracks are too noisy without)
browne amplification protein (i'm a cheater) - little box effects whiteout/snowblind variant
cooper fx arcades - ambient endeavors card
strymon iridium (not counting this - it functions as my amp)
strymon el capistan
strymon flint

additional:
emerson custom 12x18 purpleheart board
sinasoid cables and ebs cables (stereo splits for the strymons)
disaster area midibox 4
ribn app

post-processing (purposefully using nothing but essential clean-up effects):
izotope rx7 spectral denoise
waves factory trackspacer, spectre
softube drawmer s73
klevgrand luxe
tdr kotelnikov

how it's made:
the drone track was the arcades (timest algorithm), fed into the sound-on-sound looper of the el cap, with the occasional note being added to the buffer. flint had both the harmonic trem and 70's verb engaged.

the rhythm part focuses on the el cap's multi mode with a plunky, muted pattern and a pedal tone to make it sound just a little disconcerting. there's also some #4's in there too, which are always fun. 60's verb dialed in on the flint, fitting for this part.

the high lead part used the arcades with the ribn app controlling both the clock (set quantized to octaves) and the tone.  it was a little boring on its own, and this gave it some interesting character. more reverb from the flint (either 70's or 80's).

i'm planning on spending more time with the browne protein in the future, and will probably be the highlight of my next video, so, consider the reverse hit a preview. this was a chord hit into the green channel of the protein, arcades (WASH algorithm) nearly dimed out, el cap nearly at max repeats, and the flint's 80's reverb with a maxed decay. i then reversed it in post to create the hit. it goes for nearly the entire duration of the tune, but it isn't really audible until the end. i think it adds a sense of impending doom, appropriate for the mood i was going for in this tune.

fever dream

ambient short #7 - fever dream

this was a pocket watch that was my great grandfather's. i never met him. i've never seen it work. but it's a stunning timepiece.

since the last time i released a full track, time has become even more of a precious commodity. work has been crazy. i have a son now, and that causes its own set of reflections. it makes one remember the past, take account of the present, and both be excited and afraid of the future. it's both joyful and bittersweet. excitement of the current route. regret for missed opportunities and lost goals.

chronurgy is a type of magic (in dungeons and dragons) relating to the manipulation of time. while it would be great to manipulate time to our advantage, sadly, time does not slow down. obligations and responsibility take priority. being creative takes a back seat.

it's a reminder to make something of the time you have. leave a legacy. but don't forget to slow down, relax, and enjoy life.

click the buy link to stream or purchase from bandcamp.

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe and fender blacktop jaguar
electro-harmonix hum debugger
pigtronix philosopher's tone micro
old blood noise endeavors dark star v2
browne amplification protein
chase bliss audio mood
cooper fx arcades
chase bliss audio blooper
neunaber immerse
hologram microcosm
strymon iridium

other tools and post-processing:
roli lightpad block and studio player
logic pro x
izotope rx7
felt instruments lekko and cello
wavesfactory trackspacer and spectre
output rev
softube drawmer s73
klevgrand luxe
valhalla vintage verb and supermassive

chronurgy

experimentation with flangers, using the microcosm as an instrument, and some new mastering techniques.

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
electro-harmonix hum debugger
old blood noise endeavors dark star v2
walrus audio polychrome
chase bliss audio mood
chase bliss audio blooper
neunaber immerse v2
hologram microcosm
strymon iridium

additional:
emerson custom 12x18 purpleheart board
sinasoid and ebs cables

post-processing:
izotope rx7 spectral denoise
wavesfactory trackspacer, spectre
valhalla dsp supermassive
softube drawmer s73
tdr kotelnikov
toontrack ezmix

the woods highlight the change

ambient short #8 - the woods highlight the change

drones, for crying out loud.

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
electro-harmonix hum debugger
pigtronix philosopher’s tone micro
old blood noise endeavors dark star v2
chase bliss audio mood
cooper fx arcades
cooper fx generation loss v2
chase bliss audio blooper
neunaber immerse v2
hologram microcosm
strymon iridium

additional:
emerson custom 12x18 purpleheart board
sinasoid and ebs cables

post-processing:
wavesfactory trackspacer, spectre
valhalla dsp supermassive
softube drawmer s73
spitfire labs tape orchestra

sanguine motion i

ambient drone #2: sanguine motion i

i decided to embrace the christmas spirit and perform a single take rendition of this traditional christmas song. enjoy.

signal:
fender blacktop jaguar
ehx hum debugger
walrus deep six
obne sunlight (parallel from cooper fx signal path selector)
red panda raster v2
meris mercury 7
hologram microcosm

additional:
pinstripe di
ebs and doc's basement cables

post-processing:
izotope rx9 spectral denoise
fabfilter pro-c, pro-q

oh holy night

ambient one-off: oh holy night

the world is in a crazy place and i'm just sitting here creating pseudo-generative ambient pieces and learning ableton live. take a break from the crazy. turn off the tv. close the scary news article on your phone. shut off the noise. take five minutes and relax. remember what is important. i hope you enjoy this simple ambient piece.

info for nerdy people:

* written and recorded with ableton live lite, mar 19-20, 2020
* performed on a novation launchpad pro mk3
* addictive keys mark one
* uvi workstation model d
* valhalla shimmer, valhalla vintage verb, valhalla space modulator
* a few other random plugins

the main "bloopy" track uses ableton live's arpeggiator, velocity, and low oct plugins to generate random notes based on the chords played. every time this tune is played through on ableton live (not after being captured to mp3), this particular track will never sound the exact same.

while everything falls

trying out the matthews effects astronomer v2. picked this up recently as a first-in-chain reverb. i'm loving how well this pairs with the stretch mode of the chase bliss audio MOOD. the drone track is built around the canis major algorithm, which drones on and on into self-oscillation even after being bypassed, fed into the MOOD and harmonized at random with its clock. the melody track is using the orion algorithm, into the slip mode of the MOOD, with a little extra provided by the walrus audio d1. i'm accenting the guitar melody with felt instruments wolno. also, this jennings voyager deluxe is ridiculous, both tonally and aesthetically.

 i think i'll keep the astronomer.

video short available on instagram.

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
ehx hum debugger
matthews effects astronomer v2
chase bliss audio MOOD
walrus audio D1
strymon iridium (chime + york audio irs)
all slapped on an emerson custom 7x18 board and wired up with all the sinasoid cables.

post-processing on wolno:
@wavesfactory cassette
@neunaber wet (on wolno)

wolno performed on a roli lightpad block m.

ambient short #2 - the matthews effects astronomer

i didn't upload this one when i posted it on instagram last week.  my bad.

a short ambient sketch from a snippet of some noodling around tonight. nothing fancy, but i like it. this highlights my new (to me) jennings voyager deluxe. this guitar is one of the cleanest and clearest sounding guitars i’ve ever had the privilege of playing, and may be the best feeling guitar i’ve ever played. it’s truly remarkable.

this sketch focuses on a simple motif, expanded by the chase bliss MOOD, adding flurries of sparkly upper octaves and a faint, smeared undertone of a destroyed granular loop underneath (about halfway in). this is further amplified by the dual delay setting on the walrus d1, acting almost more as a reverb than a delay.

signal:
jennings navigator deluxe
ehx hum debugger (a new essential)
chase bliss audio mood
walrus audio d1
strymon iridium (chime + york audio irs)
all slapped on an emerson custom 7x18 board and wired up with all the sinasoid cables.

post-processing:
neunaber wet

ambient short #1 - the jennings voyager deluxe

this track started off as a clip of my playing that i posted on instagram in 2015, making this tune five years in the making. after rediscovering it recently, i decided to take it on. the high pitched ticking clock/ekg sound (which was, originally, a looped guitar part, then double-timed) fueled the direction for this track, but everything else was basically scrapped and rewritten from new ideas. i hope you enjoy this track as much as i enjoyed making it.

full performance video on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAbZKWynoyt/

click the buy link to stream or purchase from bandcamp.

how it's made:
i used addictive keys mark one to emulate the sound of the looped, double-timed guitar part. originally it was the back and forth sound throughout the entire track, but a friend recommended i change it somewhere in the middle, so i changed the parts around gradually and fed them into an arpeggiator.

the swells at the beginning were fueled by my demedash t-120 deluxe to get a nice, warbly sound. i found a random patch on my bigsky (using the chorale algorithm) to give it some stereo spread, as well as the dual delay sound on the walrus d1. i might have had the matthews astronomer reverb on as well, but i can't remember. there's a low undertone of the spitfire labs electric piano just to add a faint touch of timing to otherwise ambient swells.

the swells eventually fade out and migrate into some early recordings of the chase bliss audio mood in stretch mode that captured a B major chord set at different clock speeds. this sets up the underlying drones and a change of movement and mood (pun intended?) for the last half of the tune. both had the bondi sick as enabled (with the gain basically off) for a little bit of eq and filtering.

the metallic ping sounds are a combination of a metallic instrument from roli studio and the felt instruments wolno. drenched with reverb, it reminds me of some of the synthetic orchestration used by hans zimmer on the pirates of the caribbean: at world's end soundtrack. i'll absolutely use this sound again.

the end lead guitar part is the 1981 drv set on zero gain, fed into some reverb and the iridum on a round setting. i don't often use the round setting, but it felt warmer and more fitting for the part.

the vocal "ahhs" at the very end were an unintended side effect of the chorale sound on the strymon bigsky over the mood drones. a happy accident, indeed.

signal:
jennings navigator deluxe
pigtronix philosopher's tone micro
ehx hum debugger
matthews astronomer v2
bondi sick as
1981 drv
demedash t-120 (featured predominantly on the repeating guitar pattern)
walrus audio arp-87
chase bliss audio mood
walrus audio d1
neunaber immerse
strymon bigsky
strymon iridium (chime and round settings, york irs on the chime)

board:
emerson custom 18x32 board
sinasoid cables
strymon zuma and ojai (2x) power supplies

other tools, virtual instruments, and post-processing:
roli lightpad block
logic pro x
addictive keys mark one
felt instruments wolno
roli studio player
spitfire audio electric piano
output exhale
izotope rx7
neunaber wet
valhalla vintage verb
drawmer s73
kdr kotelnikov

twenty fifteen

built up this nice, peaceful drone tonight (this morning?) while messing around with dynamic midi control from an ipad. the awesome thing is i played one chord, then put down my guitar. twisted a couple knobs, and here we are. enjoy.

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
ehx hum debugger
ehx superego+ (w/ flanger effect)
demedash t-120
chase bliss audio MOOD
neunaber immerse
swinder red mountain (ramp up mode)
strymon bigsky
strymon iridium

ambient drone #1

i gave the instagram live thing a go for the first time. also, possibly my last time playing guitar before i can add a dependency to my federal taxes. sorry for the clipping - i did the best i could to fix it in post.

stream archive on igtv: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGkKqThnYjk/

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
ehx hum debugger
pigtronix philosopher’s tone micro
old blood noise endeavors dark star
matthews effects architect
walrus audio effects arp-87
chase bliss audio mood
cooper fx arcades (gen loss card)
chase bliss audio blooper
hologram electronics microcosm
neunaber immerse
strymon iridium
sinasoid cables
emerson custom pedalboard
rombo picks

instagram live

instagram live 001 (2020.10.20)

i've been balancing a newborn and sleep over the last month.  this is the first time i've really gotten to play guitar in almost a month, and came up with this really cool pad that i built this idea off of.

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
ehx hum debugger
pigtronix philosopher's tone mini
old blood noise endeavors dark star
matthews effects architect v3
alexander history lesson v3
chase bliss audio mood
hologram microcosm
neunaber immerse mkii
strymon iridium

additional:
emerson custom 12x18 board
sinasoid cables
disaster area designs midibox
ribn

post-processing:
izotope rx7
drawmer s73
izotope ozone imager 2
tdr kotelnikov

be thankful

ambient short #4 - be thankful

a little ambient short while on vacation with a reduced travel rig. enjoy the ocean breeze. try to ignore the mosquitos.

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
cooper fx arcades (gen loss card)
strymon iridium
chase bliss audio mood and blooper
neunaber immerse

post-processing:
valhalla dsp supermassive

tortuga's calm

ambient short #3 - tortugas calm

my (winning!) entry for the little box effects x @ambientendeavors #aecartridgegiveaway. done in two hours! i used the ae wash setting for the underlying chords and the gen loss combo a setting for the warbly lead (along with some other stuff). and it snowed today, so enjoy some fuzzy snowy holga video while listening on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIgWVktnPwp/

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
electro-harmonix hum debugger
pigtronix philosopher’s tone mini
matthews architect v3
alexander pedals history lesson v3
cooper fx arcades
neunaber immerse mkii
strymon engineering iridium

additional:
emerson custom 12x18 purpleheart board
sinasoid cables

post-processing:
izotope rx7
softube drawmer s73
tdr kotelnikov
wavesfactory spectre

ambient short #5 - #aecartridgegiveaway

sometimes your respite lies in the thing you can't seem to make time for. having a child has been a fulfilling experience, but time becomes a genuinely precious resource.

video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CL6hAnDghoO/

signal:
jennings voyager deluxe
ehx hum debugger
pigtronix philosopher's tone micro
old blood noise endeavors dark star v2
lake effects fvd
demedash t-120 deluxe v2
chase bliss audio mood
cooper fx arcades (generation loss card)
neunaber immerse mkii
strymon iridium

additional:
emerson custom 12x18 purpleheart board
sinasoid cables
disaster area midibox 4
ribn app

post-processing:
valhalla dsp supermassive
izotope rx7 spectral denoise
waves kramer hls, kramer pie
wavesfactory trackspacer, spectre
softube drawmer s73
klevgrand luxe
tdr kotelnikov

sparse respite

ambient short #6 - sparse respite

hi. i'm doug. i play instruments and make stuff.

i used to play instruments loud and fast.
now i play them quiet and slow.

"in lieu of / in light of" available now on bandcamp.

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